Amien proposes ABRI has 15 House seats

Amien proposes ABRI has 15 House seats

JAKARTA (JP): Amien Rais is again calling for the Armed Forces
(ABRI) to be given only 15 unelected, nonvoting seats in the
House of Representatives.

Amien, the chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN),
conceded it was likely that House factions would agree to
allocate 40 seats in the 1999/2004 House of Representatives to
ABRI.

"Our party is against this not only because appointees
(unelected representatives) in the House contradict the
constitution, but also because the number is too high," he said
during a meeting with Abu Hasan Sazili, chairman of the House's
Special Committee deliberating the political bills, here on
Monday.

He stressed that ABRI representatives must not have voting
rights because they would not be elected through a general
election.

He also called for an end to the practice of appointing ABRI
members to provincial and regency legislatures, again stating
that the practice violated the constitution.

The House's Working Committee has yet to agree on the number
of House seats to be allocated to ABRI representatives. However,
faction leaders have hinted that the number would likely be 40.

In the meeting, Amien also voiced his strong opposition to
Golkar's proposed proportional voting system at the regency
level, saying that such a system would result in legislators who
were not familiar with their constituents.

He said that PAN agreed with the United Development Party
(PPP) faction that the general election should be held at the
provincial level, so excess votes could be lumped together to win
more seats.

In addition, Amien called on the government to act only as a
facilitator of the elections, adding that only eligible poll
contestants should run the elections.

"We want the general election to be fully entrusted to the
contestants in order to ensure its fairness."

"If the House refuses to insert our recommendations into the
political bills (being deliberated), that means we are defeated
politically, but people will know that we won a moral victory and
that we are committed to reform," he said.

Sazili, also the deputy chairman of Golkar's faction in the
House, said that all House factions were now close to reaching a
compromise on the number of ABRI seats in the House.

He said his faction wanted between five percent and eight
percent of the total House seats to be allocated to ABRI, the
government and the ABRI faction had suggested 40 seats, the PPP
faction had apparently agreed to five percent of the total seats,
while the minority Indonesian Democratic Party faction had yet to
reveal its stance.

"We will discuss PAN's suggestions at the Special Committee's
plenary after this meeting," he said. Sazili was accompanied by
Harminto A.P. of the PPP faction, Budi Harsono of the ABRI
faction and Aminullah Ibrahim of the Golkar faction.

Budi said ABRI would accept whatever seats were allocated to
it by the people. (rms)